Futurama created by Matt Groening. Developed by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Owned by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Used without permission.

Kim Possible created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle. Characters designed by Stephen Silver. Owned by Disney. Used without permission.

Kiyone Makabi was created by Naoko Hasegawa and owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC, inc. Used without permission.

Joan, Rob, and Sally (formally Susan) created by Mitch

Note: Thanks to everyone who has ever read or responded to my fan fics for the past (near) decade. It’s been fun, but it‘s time to retire.

Joan was at the main computer of her spaceship, the New Frontier. She had been racking her brain for two days straight trying to figure out how to get her temporal displaced friends home. For some reason, the rift in the universe seemed to have stabilized. This hurt her “rift will destroy the universe” theory and that wasn’t as good as it sounded. If she was off about that, then she may have been wrong about some other things…and she couldn’t afford to be wrong!

Joan slumped into a nearby chair. She never liked feeling defeated, but she felt worse about giving up. She had spent half her young life training for this mission. To think she would fail…no. She refused to think of it that way.

It felt like she was stuck on her homework. What was she missing?

At that time, Philip Fry entered the room, one of the few times Joan had seen him without Leela. She admired the connection those two had, but didn’t envy it…thanks to the band on her finger.

“Whatcha doin’?” asked Fry.

“Oh, just trying to figure out how to get us all home,” said Joan, forcing a smile.

“I meant with that ring of yours,” said Fry, “is it a magic ring or something?”

Joan quickly got up, after realizing that she was admiring her ring.

“Uh, no, but it‘s important to me,” she said, “anyway, I’m having trouble trying to figure out why we’re not dead yet.”

“Isn’t ’not dying’ a good thing?”

“Yes, but something just feels off, like why did that rift in space stop growing?” asked Joan, “we should have ceased to exist some time ago.”

“Like that time with my grandfather?”

This got Joan’s attention.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well,” explained Fry, “my friends and I went back in time once and…something fatal happened to my grandfather before my dad was conceived.

There was something missing from Fry’s story, but Joan’s focus was on something else about it.

The revelation made her smile. Suddenly, she hugged Fry, screaming “YES!”

“I hope this isn’t what I think it is,” said a familiar female voice behind them.

They turned around and saw Leela. Quickly, Joan let go of Fry and turned her attention to the computer screen.

“It isn’t want you think unless you think that your boyfriend is a genius!” explained Joan with enthusiasm.

“He is?” asked Leela.

“I am?” asked Fry.

“According to Fry’s story,” explained Joan while typing, “the time stream must be trying to compensate itself for each anomaly.”

“Okay,” said Fry unsurely, “but what does this have to do with me being a genius.”

“You reminded me that this isn’t a cartoon,” explained Joan, “it’s not like you were going to just vanish into thin air when you prematurely lost your grandfather. The universe repaired itself with what it had so you could exist. Nature abhors a vacuum and all that.”

“So, what does this have to do with us now?” asked Leela.

“To make it simple,” said Joan, “the good news is that the universe isn’t going to stop existing. The bad news is that we may still die.”

Joan looked at her friends and noticed their shocked looks.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I should have gone with the bad news first.”

The gym of the New Frontier was crowded with all of Joan’s “guests”. There were murmers and expected confusion abound. Joan gulped. She had a lot to explain.

“People, please! We have a situation here and I’d like some cooperation.”

“Cooperation?” said a voice in the back, “I’m not even seeing solo work being done around here!”

Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. It was Shego, their prisoner, held in a personal force field.

She was from Joan’s time, but was better known as Kim Possible’s enemy in her time. This older Shego had not lost her biting humor.

“I mean,” continued Shego, “you people are slow! You’ve all been lounging around all day! You just waited for the last second!”

“I’ll shut her up,” said Leela, crunching her knuckles.

“No,” said Kim, “I’ve known her the longest. I’ll do it.”

Kim walked up to Shego’s “cage”.

“Wanna beat me up, ‘Princess’?” asked the villain.

“No,” said Kim, “I just wanted to remind you that you’ve done a lot of sitting around. I think you’re calling the kettle black…and green.”

“Fine by me,” said Kim, walking back to the others, “and I’ll probably be seeing you, the younger you, before you see me again.”

“Good point.”

“Thank you, Shego,” said Joan sarcastically, “now, to sum up, the universe isn’t in danger, but we are. We won’t be able to escape from the vortex unless our three ships leave soon, but we can’t do that unless you all leave first.”

“But,” protested the Flaming Fry, “we have no way home!”

“I’ve been working on that,” said Joan, “I have a way to reactivate the portals that brought you here thanks to some temporal particles which were left behind.”

That news caused everyone to cheer!

“There’s a catch, though.”

That news caused everyone to groan.

“Don’t worry,” explained Joan, “it’s not a big catch. The portals have to be in the exact room you first appeared in and in the reverse order. It’s like cleaning up after the universe.”

Everyone groaned even more strongly than before, except for the two Frys, who were laughing like mad.

“Okay,” said a blushing Joan, “I need to work on my delivery.”

“Be strong, kids,” said the Armored Leela to Leela jr. and Fry jr., while hugging each of them, “it’s a trough universe out there.”

“And if you’re lucky, said the Flaming Fry, “you’ll get superpowers like us. That makes it easier.”

“Hush!”

The Flaming Fry, Armored Leela, and the Bend were in the storage room they were found in. They were from an alternate universe where some of the Planet Express crew were super heroes. Their last request before leaving was to say goodbye to the twins. The twins belonged to a married Fry and Leela from yet another universe and their sitter, the cyborg Sally, came with them. To avoid confusion, the heroes were wearing masks made from spare pieces of the Armored Leela’s armor.

“We’re ready for transfer, Joan!” said the Bend to the intercom.

“Okay,” said Joan‘s voice, “you’d better leave, Captain Leela.”

Captain Leela, who was carrying the twins, left the room with them. There was a flash of light behind her. Although she knew what to expect, she still turned around and saw nothing.

She gave a bittersweet smile and looked down at the twins. It would be their turn next.

“Thanks for everything guys,” said Sally, taking the babies from Leela.

“It’s okay,” said Leela, “and…I almost feel like I have a sister now.”

“I get the feeling,” explained Sally, “I’m also pretty close with the Leela of my world.”

“’Bye, kids,” said Fry to “his” children, “See you soon…maybe.”

Leela gave Fry a curious look.

“Here we go!” announced Joan’s voice over the intercom.

A vortex of energy appeared and overtook the robot women and the babies. Fry and Leela just stood there for a moment. Leela didn’t know what to think, except for wondering what Fry was thinking. She figured that he was thinking the same as her…as if that made sense.

Kiyone spent a minute reflecting on her time here. Was it vacation? Well, more like a change of scenery.

She was starting to miss her friends back home, even her partner.

Maybe I should try for a separate vacation again, she thought, but my partner would still want to come.

Then again, she thought maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. She had learned from recent times that “the more, the merrier” and this seemed to be another example of that statement. Maybe she would give her partner her pick of a spot when their vacation time came…

“You okay, Officer Kiyone?”

Kiyone broke from her trance and saw Kim Possible, the teen hero from around Fry’s time and world. With Kim was Fry, Leela, and Joan, holding a portable device that would generate a portal.

“Oh, I’m okay,” said Kiyone, “just pondering some things…and it‘s Detective Kiyone, but you can forget the title.”

“Sorry, Kiyone-san,” said Kim, bowing some. Kim didn’t normally use Japanese honorifics, but it seemed appropriate this time.

Kiyone smiled, feeling a kind of kinship to this kid. Maybe it was her skills, ideals, or maybe just her ambition, but she reminded Kiyone of herself back in her academy days. Kim seemed to have a more positive world view, though (society was a bit…colder in Kiyone’s universe). In any case, she wished to have gotten to know her better, but she didn‘t want to mess with the time-space continuum much longer.

“Yeah,” said Leela, “the force-field around her is at triple-strength. She couldn’t fire a force blast now without it bouncing back and hitting her. I hope that hurts.”

“She won‘t try that,” said Kim, “so it should be easy to tow her to your time, Joan.”

“Speaking of which,” said Joan, “I’ll have to leave first to help keep the field we‘re in stable. Guys, it’s been great.”

They looked at her strangely.

“I mean, despite the circumstances and all,” she corrected, while blushing.

Near the airlocks to the KR-1 and the Planet Express ship, Joan gave more proper goodbyes.

Leela noticed Joan’s ring and Joan confessed that she had someone special waiting for her at home. She then hugged Fry, granting her a evil look from Leela. Joan just smiled and told Leela to hold on to him.

Joan went to Fry and Ron and hugged them as well. She then told them that they belonged together and not just for their own sakes.

Joan went to Bender and Rufus, Ron’s pet naked mole-rat, (who was being held by the robot) and told them that they were more than just sidekicks; no one was just a sidekick.

As they left to the airlocks, Joan sighed. The mission wouldn’t be accomplished until they all made it back safely to their separate times.

She and Rob, her cyber mole-rat, head to the controls of the New Frontier.

“Everything ready?” asked Rob.

“As humanly possible,” said Joan, “and in my experience, that never seemed to be very limited.”

“I admit, Kim,” said Leela, while heading to her airlock, “I’m jealous of you.”

“What for?” asked Kim.

“You were raised by your parents,” answered Leela, “mine were secretly watching over me, but I didn’t really know them until much later.”

“Wow, sorry.”

“Don’t be,” said Leela, “doing great now. I just wish I had your childhood.”

Leela then handed Kim a piece of paper.

"You may need this," she whispered.

“I guess I should be glad you’re jealous for the right reasons,” said Kim with a smile, “unlike Fry.”

“Oh,” said Fry, looking lovingly at Leela, “I don’t have anything to be jealous about these days. Rock on, Ron.”

“You too, big guy,” said Ron, giving Fry a thumbs-up.

Bender properly gave Rufus a good-bye, saying that he was glad to have known him, even if he was “squishy and fleshy”. Rufus tried to tolerate that remark.

Later, on the KR-1, Kim noticed the New Frontier leaving.

“Our turn,” she said as she started her turbines. She noticed Ron and Rufus waving to the other ships. She smiled at their (usual) innocence.

On the Planet Express ship, Leela saw the KR-1 leaving and smiled affectionately. Fry and Bender buckled up in their respective seats. Joan had warned them that it might be as rough getting home as it did getting there…maybe more so.

“Engage!” commanded Leela…right before remembering that she was the pilot as well as the captain.

She then turned the ignition key with a martial-arts yell.

Now…that…was…a…rough…ride, thought Kim. She looked at Ron and Rufus. From the looks of their (more than usual) stressed faces, they were thinking the same thing. She headed toward the Middleton Space Center, wondering how to explain everything.

Earth: a blue gem of endless beauty and pointless inner conflict.

“Middelton Space Center, this is the XR-1 ship,” said Kim over the radio, “coming in for a landing.”

“Kimmie-cub? Are you alright?” asked a familiar voice on the other end.

“Dad? You still there?” asked Kim, “I‘m sorry that I worried you last time, but I sort of freaked and there was no way to call you. I know it’s been a while but…”

“Kimmy,” said Dr. Possible, “you were only gone for a few minutes.”

A few minutes? It must have been days…but Joan kept saying they were “outside time.”

“Well, Dad,” said Kim with a smile, “they say time is relative. I’ll tell you about it later. KR-1 out.”

Kim looked at the paper Leela gave her. It was her exersise routine. She figured she could use it when she got a bit older.

Kim figured she should tell this mission to her dad in private and then worry about what to tell the officials. She then looked at Ron and Rufus, admiring both their courage and, again, their (usual) innocence and realized something…

“Leela? Leela!”

Leela awoke to find strong arms and a familiar voice waking her.

Then she realized those hands and that voice belonged to Bender, not Fry.

She saw Fry at the controls, using his limited experience to steer the ship…which was about to crash into the Hudson River!

Earth: a long-made would-be utopia with some serious knicks to work out (the treatment of her people for one thing).

In the nick of time, Leela managed a perfect u-turn...and headed the ship back into space.

Leela decided to put the ship in Earth orbit and wait for herself to fully recover before heading back home. She looked at Fry, admiring his (somewhat displaced) courage and realized something…

Joan and Rob were finally heading home: Earth in the mid-21st century. Earlier, she set her computers to correspond with the time of her home town.

A few minutes? thought Joan, I thought it would be at least a few days!

She wasn’t complaining though, “he” hadn’t been waiting long.

Earth: a world awakening from a long conflict and beginning to heal.

Joan programmed her computer to check for e-mail transmissions. There was one coming from her future husband: John Turanga.

Although John decided to keep his name (his family took the names of their wives), the two had a special bond. She looked at her ring again. It wasn’t too fancy a ring, but he did let her pick. She had to remember to tell the new details of her mission to her parents, Kim and Ron Stoppable.